We doctors at Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic are aware of the stories circulating in the news about Librela (and, frankly, all other treatments as well).
Especially since the onset of the COVID era, sensational journalism now rules the day over critical thinking, and social media hysteria over methodical consideration in American society. It is our job as doctors of veterinary medicine to think critically, and in so doing determine ways to improve and enhance animal health.
With regard to Librela, we at Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic select our patients in accordance with the product label claims. We cannot speak for our colleagues elsewhere.
It is important to consider the type of dog for which Librela can be helpful. Dogs with arthritis tend to be older dogs. Despite our best efforts, dogs do not live forever. In addition to arthritis, they can have underlying comorbidities at the onset of treatment, or they can develop comorbidities unrelated to Librela over the course of time that they would have developed anyway.
As of this writing in mid-April of 2025, we’ve given 1,275 doses of Librela. We have seen a grand total of zero examples of the types of accounts shared by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, or any other media outlet trying to sell a paper or ad time. In fact, we have seen zero adverse effects. None.
The Law of Large Numbers suggests we’ll eventually see *some* adverse effects, but the point here is Librela is distinctly not killing dogs at CFVC. Librela isn’t diminishing dogs’ quality of life at CFVC. It’s not even statistically neutral. It has been an overwhelming positive. It has enhanced and is continuing to improve the lives of hundreds of dogs.
We must think critically about topics such as this. We must keep in mind the difference between causation and correlation. We must pursue information dispassionately, and without the cloud of emotion that comes with a news media selling clicks and subscriptions.
Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic has been pursuing good medicine for patients for over 40 years. We’ve seen websites pop up such as Trifexis Kills Dogs, Simparica Kills Dogs, Apoquel Kills Dogs, and ProHeart Kills Dogs. When Librela was launched, we half-joked about this topic in the office, knowing it would only be a matter of time before the launch of Librela Kills Dogs, because that’s where society is in the 21st Century. These movements have come and gone because there was neither science nor critical thinking behind them. We at CFVC are still here providing good health care and treatment for our patients.
We will continue to recommend and administer good treatment, and until we see medical evidence to the contrary, we’ll stick with our present philosophy and strategy of basing our medicine on critical thinking.
